Resource information
This report represents a further chapter
in the dialogue between the World Bank and the People's
Republic of China about how to promote economic growth and
protect China's environment. There are three
cross-cutting issues that keep recurring throughout the
analysis. These issues characterize the environmental
management challenge over the next decade: First, the
environmental agenda is becoming so complex and large that
it cannot be adequately managed by one agency--the State
Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) and its
counterparts at lower levels--working on its own. Effective
solutions will require the combined and coordinated efforts
of many different branches of government and the re-thinking
of many development policies. Second, the systemic fiscal
and budgetary problems facing the country as a whole are
making it difficult for environmental institutions to do
their work. There is a growing gap between assigned
responsibilities and the resources provided to carry out
those responsibilities. Third, the government has to
continue to diversify the approaches it takes and the
environmental tools it uses to provide a better fit between
the solutions developed and the problems being experienced
in different parts of the country. The
"one-size-fits-all" approach, as exemplified by
various mass environmental campaigns, played a useful role
in the past, but is proving increasingly inadequate to meet
current demands.
